After outcry, Israeli museum calls off sale of Islamic art

Art experts criticised the attempted sale to private collectors saying it was hidden from the public.

Israel’s premier museum for Islamic art has scrapped the planned auction of many rare and precious items after a public outcry over the attempted sale, which had been expected to fetch millions of dollars from wealthy private collectors. In a settlement struck on Wednesday, the Sotheby’s auction house agreed to return 268 items from London back to the LA Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem. The agreement ends a saga that drew broad condemnation and threatened to gut one of Israel’s prized public art collections. Art experts criticised the attempted sale to private collectors saying it was hidden from the public and violated the museum’s founding mission to edify the Israeli public about the Islamic world through art.